The Home Front: Judge says ‘fitness test’ for Colorado Springs cops discriminated against women

“A fitness test given to Colorado Springs police officers discriminated against women and violated civil rights laws, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in a two-year lawsuit,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “The test ‘shamed and ostracized’ the 12 plaintiffs – many of them decorated officers with decades of service – while providing ‘meaningless’ results, ruled U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch. Performing poorly on the test left officers at risk of losing their jobs, despite the benchmark scores being ‘arbitrary’ and the evaluation having little to do with the officers’ everyday work, Matsch said. Significantly more women than men failed it. ‘To retroactively impose that requirement on women who have invested their lives as career police officers is fundamentally unfair,’ Matsch wrote.”

“Scores of Fort Collins police officers in recent weeks have been armed with overdose-reversing naloxone, a move coinciding with national law enforcement efforts to ease a surge of opioid-involved deaths,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Patrol officers, detectives and lab technicians — 154 police personnel — have been trained since mid-June to carry and use the drug better known by its trade name, Narcan. When training concludes this month, approximately 200 police personnel will have access to naloxone, said Officer Al Brown, medical skills team coordinator with Fort Collins police.”

“An investigation into alleged harassment of female council members by male council members is ‘absolutely’ related to a heated exchange in an open council meeting on June 27, Councilman Brian Bagley said,” according to The Longmont Times-Call. “The Times-Call discovered Tuesday afternoon that Longmont had hired Denver-based law firm Gordon & Rees Scully Mansukhani to “conduct an impartial, thorough and prompt inquiry regarding allegations of harassment against female city council members by male city council members.” Longmont officials said they could not comment on the nature of the investigation following Tuesday night’s council meeting. Longmont spokesman Rigo Leal reiterated that he could not divulge information about the investigation because “it’s confidential.”

“Greeley officials expect a lot of meetings in downtown Greeley,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “So many, in fact, they don’t believe the city’s new downtown hotel and conference center will be able to handle them all. That’s why the city is spending more than $1 million on improvements and renovations to the Greeley Recreation Center, 651 10th Ave., including rehabbing meeting rooms and bolstering pedestrian crossings to ease access between the hotel and recreation center.”

“The Bureau of Land Management is seeking ideas this month for how to make its land use planning procedures and environmental reviews timelier and less costly,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “Some activists find the 21-day comment period, which ends July 24, a bit too streamlined itself. But the move comes as the West Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association already has begun calling for reduced red tape, citing specifically its concerns about an environmental review for an oil and gas leasing proposal in Mesa and Garfield counties. The BLM noted in its news release that its outreach follows President Trump’s March 27 signing of a congressional resolution nullifying the BLM’s Planning 2.0 rule. That initiative during the Obama administration aimed to update decades-old planning regulations and provide for more public input. But it was challenged in court by entities including Garfield County that argued in part that it violated the BLM’s requirement to coordinate with local governments.”

“With the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo still struggling to fill vacant staff positions, the hospital held a hiring event Wednesday at its West 24th Street campus to try and bolster its numbers by hiring registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and licensed psychiatric technicians,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “The all-day event enabled prospective hires to complete an application and interview with the hospital’s nursing and human resources team all in one location and at one time, in order to expedite the hiring process and address the dire needs at CMHIP. The hospital currently has 82 vacancies in ‘direct care’ positions.”

A story about why Steamboat is cancelled fireworks pushed a story about a city official’s concern over public pot use at outdoor events off the front page of The Steamboat Pilot. In that story, “The smell of marijuana smoke emanating from some concertgoers at Steamboat’s Free Summer Concert Series has wafted from Howelsen Hill all the way to the City Council chambers,” the paper reports. “Figuratively, at least. On Tuesday night, City Councilman Scott Ford expressed concern the shows were becoming less family friendly because of some illegal public consumption of marijuana that is occurring at the concerts. “This should not be happening,” Ford said. Ford called for more vigilance from the city on the issue. He also called out a local marijuana dispensary for a July 1 newspaper advertisement the business placed encouraging people to stop by to shop at Golden Leaf before the concerts. City Manager Gary Suiter said while the city can’t control advertising messages because of free speech rights, he suggested he might call the dispensary and say ‘c’mon man.'”

“Loveland City Council members see a time in which they will go to the voters for more-explicit instruction on the next steps in looking at municipal broadband service,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “It just won’t be this November. In a sometimes heated discussion late Tuesday that lapped over into Wednesday, councilors considered whether to ask the city’s voters as early as this year whether to go beyond the bland language of the override of Senate Bill 152. That measure approved by voters in 2015 allowed the city to “explore” issues of broadband internet service, including whether the city would offer a franchise agreement to a sole provider — or even become a municipal utility provider in its own right.”

“After two years of fishing for takers in its bid to reestablish ties with fraternities, the University of Colorado announced Wednesday that it has reeled in two outside chapters, making the launch of its own Interfraternity Council official following a 12-year hiatus,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Tau Gamma will be moving onto the Boulder scene in the upcoming academic year, although, technically, there will be no fraternity houses to move into. At least, not at first.”

“The Durango City Council seemed open Tuesday to a lengthy list of strategies that would combat the housing shortage, such as reducing parking requirements, increasing density and allowing for taller buildings,” reports The Durango Herald. “The councilors didn’t take a vote during the study session but encouraged the staff to formalize the ideas into a draft plan that can be released for public comment this summer. ‘I think to flesh out what you’ve been telling us is the next step,’ Mayor Dick White said.”

“As 50 students filed into the historic St. Cloud Hotel on Wednesday, cellphones started snapping photos of the first elevator in Fremont County, intricate ceilings, an old check-in desk — and all the signs of an ongoing restoration,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “If those photos make it onto social media with a link to the hotel’s GoFundMe fundraiser website, that’s OK with James Characky. “I personally could only reach 100 people,” said Characky, the president of the Future of Yesterday Foundation, which is in charge of the 129-year-old hotel’s restoration. “If we have 50 kids who have 1,000 friends … I literally, physically can’t reach them. And they can.”

“The ovens will fire up one last time inside the Santa Fe Cookie Company’s tiny Republic Plaza storefront on Monday, but The Cookie Lady, Debbie Kuehn, won’t be the one pulling out the trays of fragrant, delicious cookies, jazz playing in the background, reports The Denver Post. “Kuehn’s niece Alexis McLean, who worked at Santa Fe on and off for years, will be doing the baking to celebrate the life of one of Denver’s most beloved bakers. Kuehn died on June 28 at the age of 57.”